Intern Post
The dingo is among Australia’s most recognisable species internationally. However, debate continues about whether dingoes are considered invasive or native species.
Dingoes arrived in Australia around 3,000–5,000 years ago, and their rapid dispersal was likely facilitated by humans. In the present day, dingoes negatively impact livestock producers, especially sheep farmers. To reduce these impacts, landowners and government spend an estimated ~$30 million annually across Australia to control wild dog and dingo populations. Control methods include using traps, baits and shooting, along with constructing a physical barrier to limit their movement: the Dog Fence (also known as the Dingo Fence).
The Dog Fence is a wire fence made to protect from the loss of sheep and livestock; it is the longest fence in the world (5,614 km). Since its construction 80 years ago, the Dog Fence has shaped the landscape of Australia. However, perhaps unintentionally, the Dog fence has acted as a natural experiment. On the side where dingoes remain present there is more vegetation and fewer invasive species like foxes than on the side where dingoes are absent. The difference between sides of the fence is so distinct that you can even see it from space! Nearly a century later, the Dog fence has shown the importance of apex predators like dingoes in ecosystems and their benefit to native biodiversity1.
To understand the debate about dingo’s role in Australia’s ecosystems, it’s useful to know the dingo’s current distribution. Here, we’ll explore where and how often dingo observations are recorded in the Atlas of Living Australia (ALA) to understand how historical and ongoing differences in attitudes towards dingo conservation affect data collection.
Summarise observations
Let’s start by finding how many observations of dingoes are in the ALA and where they are.
